Max Garcia Melchor
Ussher Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Biography

Dr. García-Melchor received his BSc in Chemistry and MSc in Theoretical Chemistry from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His Master and Doctorate studies, supervised by Prof. Agustí Lledós and Prof.Gregori Ujaque, involved the use of computational methods to elucidate the reaction mechanisms of several palladium-catalysed C-C cross-coupling reactions. After obtaining his PhD in Chemistry in 2012, he joined the group of Prof. Núria López at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), where he conducted a postdoctoral research that allowed him to underpin the mechanisms and factors that govern several catalytic processes on metal oxides surfaces. In 2014, he was a recipient of one of the prestigious Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellowships to conduct a second postdoctoral stay in the research group of Prof. Jens K. Nørskov at Stanford University. During this period, his research contributed to the understanding of the electrochemical water oxidation reaction catalysed by various metal-oxide-based materials, as well as to guide the design of high-performance catalysts for this process.

Since November 2016, he is an Ussher Assistant Professor in Chemical Energy Systems and Principal Investigator of the Computational Catalysis and Energy Materials (CCEM) Group in the School of Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin. His research group at Trinity focuses on the theoretical description of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic reactions with energy-related applications, and the design of more efficient materials for the development of renewable energy technologies. Throughout his scientific career, he has received several national and international awards, including the Springer Theses Award and the Sant Jordi Award from the Catalan Chemical Society. Over the last five years, he has authored or co- authored more than 25 research articles in the most prestigious scientific journals such as Science, Nature Communications, and Nature Energy, as well as 2 book chapters. He is also member of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry and its Organometallic Chemistry Specialized Group (since 2010), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (since 2015).

García-Melchor M, Understanding the High Performance of CeO2 as Catalyst in the Hydrogenation of Alkynes to Olefins: A DFT+U Study, 11th European Congress on Catalysis - EuropaCat-XI, Lyon, France, September 1-6th, 2013Poster, 2013

García-Melchor M, On the Origin of the Enantioselectivity in an Asymmetric Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling: A DFT study, XXV International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC), Lisbon, Portugal, September 2-7th, 2012Poster, 2012

García-Melchor M, A QM Study on the Origin of the Enantioselectivity: The Asymmetric Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reaction, Ninth Triennial Congress of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, July 17-22th, 2011Poster, 2011

García-Melchor M, Palladium Roundtrip in the Negishi Coupling of trans-[PdMeCl(PMePh2)2] with ZnMeCl: A DFT Study of the Transmetalation Step, XXVIII Meeting of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group (GEQO), Huelva, Spain, September 7-10th, 2010Poster, 2010

García-Melchor M, A DFT Study of the Transmetalation Step in the Negishi Cross-Coupling Reaction of trans-[PdMeClL2] with ZnMeCl, II School on Organometallic Chemistry Marcial Moreno Mañas, Valencia, Spain, July 6-8th, 2009Poster, 2009

García-Melchor M, A DFT Study of the Transmetalation Step in the Negishi Cross-Coupling Reaction of trans-[PdMeClL2] with ZnMeCl, Theoretical Chemistry: Modeling Reactivity from gas phase to biomolecules and solids. Celebrating 25 years of the Reference Network on Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, June 29th - July 3rd, 2009Poster, 2009

Recognition

Representations

FEMS representative at a workshop on online learning organised by the College24/05/2017

Member of the COST action CM1305: Explicit Control Over Spin-states in Technology and Biochemistry (ECOSTBIO)2016 - Present

Member of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) 2010 - Present

Member of the Organometallic Chemistry Specialized Group (GEQO) of the RSEQ2010 - Present

Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)2015 - Present

External reviewer for the Martí i Franquès COFUND Fellowships Programme from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)2017

Member of an internal review panel for an ERC Consolidator Grant10/01/2017

Reviewer for the following international scientific journals: Chemical Science, ACS Catalysis, ChemCatChem, Journal of Physical Chemistry, ChemPlusChem, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, and Journal of Molecular Catalysis A.2012 - Present

Chair of 4 PhD vivas and examiner of 4 undergraduate vivas in Trinity College Dublin2017

Preparation of a press release for the Irish media about one of my research works published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications. This was carried out in collaboration with the FEMS Press Officer Thomas Deane.2017

Interviewed over phone by the Irish newspaper "The Independent" in relation with my research published in Nature Communications2017

Awards and Honours

Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral fellowship (only 4 awards in the Science panel) from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants of Catalonia (AGAUR, 2013 BP-A 00464).2014-2016

Best PhD thesis award (among all PhD thesis defended in 2012) from the Department of Chemistry of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.2015